Your first visit to New York City can be thrilling and overwhelming. With so much to see and do in the Big Apple, it can be hard to trim down all your choices into a manageable itinerary. The goal, if you have less than a couple of days to see the sites, is to get a taste of the scale, character and history of New York without overloading your schedule or neglecting to leave time to simply walk around, taking in the atmospheres of different neighborhoods.

One way to tackle New York in 36 hours is to devote part of your visit to Midtown, and another to southern Manhattan and Ellis Island. In this way you can walk or take short cab rides from site to site -- with no need to learn New York's labyrinthine subway system -- and take your time, while still seeing a variety of New York's most popular tourist attractions.

Midtown: The Empire State Building

The Empire State Building is perhaps the most famous in all of New York. While most of the floors function as a run-of-the-mill office building, the site -- a National Historic Landmark -- attracts millions of tourists annually from around the world.

You'll find unmatched views from the building's two observatories. At 1,050 feet, the 86th floor offers panoramic views from within a glass-enclosed observatory and its surrounding open-air deck. On a clear day you can see New Jersey and Connecticut, and even as far as Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Another 200 feet up is an enclosed observatory on the 102nd -- and topmost--floor.

The observatories are open daily from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. (The last elevators that will take you up leave at 1:15 a.m.) You can purchase tickets at the Empire State Building, but since lines are long it's a good idea to buy them in advance online from the Building's website. You can also buy tickets to the multi-media iView, an audio and visual guide to the view from the 86th floor.

Midtown: Grand Central Terminal

Since it opened in 1831, Grand Central Terminal (also known as Grand Central Station) has embodied the hustle-bustle, high-speed atmosphere of New York City. Its stunning architecture and decor, history and sheer size attract foreign tourists, as well as the many New Yorkers who ride the trains to and from the station on their daily commutes. You can take a 75-minute guided tour, an audio tour or, for just a few dollars, download a tour application to your smartphone ahead of your visit.

Midtown: Top of the Rock

Oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller personally financed the building of Rockefeller Plaza, a famous art-deco complex he envisioned as "the plaza of the people." Iconic images of the grand Christmas tree and film scenes of New Yorkers ice skating at the Plaza's rink have turned Rockefeller Plaza into an important New York landmark.

The central GE Building offers a rooftop observation deck, "Top of the Rock," that competes with the Empire State Building's 86th floor observatory, in part because you can see the Empire State Building itself.

After your time at the observation deck, you can enjoy the many shops and restaurants in Rockefeller Center and take a tour of the complex, which includes its famous ice-skating rink and art installations.

Museum of Modern Art

The six floors of the world-renowned Museum of Modern Art in New York contain works by some of the premiere artists from the 1880s through today: Paul Cezanne, Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, Roy Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol, among others. The MOMA's collection of paintings, sculptures, photographs, designs and media installations is considered among the best in the world. If you are in a hurry to see other sites, pick one or two styles of art, or a few artists, and focus on them as paying every exhibit the attention it deserves would take many hours.

Ellis Island

Ellis Island is a 27.5-acre site located a short ferry ride from the southern tip of Manhattan. Historians estimate that nearly half of all Americans can trace their family's story to an immigrant who entered the United States through the Port of New York at Ellis Island. The port now hosts a museum that teaches the history of immigration to the U.S.; you can even search historical records for mention of relatives. The island grounds are also ideal for picnics; from Ellis Island you can enjoy excellent views of the skylines of both New York and New Jersey.

A 45-minute audio tour of the immigration museum is available in nine languages, and a children’s audio tour is available in five languages. You can also take a guided tour for a more in-depth understanding of the exhibits.

Lower Manhattan: Lower East Side Tenement Museum

At the Tenement Museum you'll learn about the history of immigrants in New York, particularly about those who settled in the iconic immigrant neighborhood of the Lower East Side. The apartment building in which the museum is located, at 97 Orchard Street, was formerly home to nearly 7,000 immigrant members of the working class. The museum uses stories of specific families and individuals as lenses through which to learn about the immigrant experience.

You can see the museum only by joining one of the various guided tours available. They are given in three categories: "Tour the Building," such as the one-hour "Hard Times" tour of the restored homes of a German-Jewish family and an Italian-Catholic family who lived at 97 Orchard Street during economic depressions; "Meet the Residents," including a one-hour visit to the apartment of a Greek-Jewish family where a young costumed interpreter plays their teenage daughter, Victoria, and answers questions; and "Walk the Neighborhood," guided tours of the Lower East Side, including "Outside the Home," a 90-minute opportunity to learn where and how immigrants did their banking, fought for their rights and went to school.

Lower Manhattan: Washington Square Park

In the heart of Greenwich Village and the campus of New York University, Washington Square Park is an ideal lower-Manhattan location to rest your feet and spend some time watching average New Yorkers living their lives. The park's well-known arch, through which Fifth Avenue used to run until the park was closed to traffic in 1964, was modeled on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris; it is dedicated to George Washington, after whom the park is named. History buffs will enjoy the park's many monuments and researching the park's rich history, including the Greek Revival building on the north side.

Lower Manhattan: Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge Park -- on the Brooklyn side of the East River -- is where you can take iconic tourism photos of yourself against the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline. There, you can also enjoy many eateries, a carousel and opportunities to kayak and fish.

The bridge itself is a National Historic Landmark; when it was completed in 1883, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. A pedestrian and bicycle promenade is available over the bridge, or you can get to the Brooklyn side via subway, bus or ferry.

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About the Author

Sarah Bronson received her Master of Arts in journalism from New York University in 2002. Since then her clients have included "The New York Times," "Glamour," "Executive Travel," "Fodor's," "The Jerusalem Report," "ESPN—The Magazine," the "Washington Times" and "Figure" magazine. Her areas of expertise include biotechnology, health, education, travel, Judaism and fashion.